Jamie Spencer Was A High School Hero. Now A Freshman At Notre Dame, He Faces New Pressure On And Off The Field.

From Small Town To Big Time

September 10, 1995|By Joseph Tybor, Tribune Staff Writer.

NOTRE DAME, Ind. — On a day when he could sleep late, Jamie Spencer instead rolled his 247-pound body from his bunk and prepared to hike halfway across the Notre Dame campus for treatment on a sore shoulder.

It was 7 a.m. His first class wasn't until 11. He dressed and grabbed an apple from his desk, which was cluttered with books, a word processor and a small stereo with a Bible atop one of the speakers.

He put on his favorite hat, a Seattle baseball cap monogrammed with an `S'--"for Spencer," he says.

The night before, he and his three roommates kicked back on sofas and chairs in their reasonably comfortable dorm room and watched his high school highlight film.

Spencer was Big Man On Campus at Ouachita Parish High School in Monroe, La., where he starred as a fullback last year. With his powerful 6-foot-1-inch frame and thighs the size of a fit man's waist, he bulldozed his way to gain more than 1,300 yards and score 19 touchdowns. Recruiters considered him the best fullback prospect in the country.

But that's all in the past. Now he's just an unproven freshman.

When Spencer rubbed the sleep out of his eyes and headed for treatment on a sore shoulder joint, he was a million miles away from his high school glory.

"It's scary. It's really scary," Spencer said of the injury, which first occurred Aug. 14 in preseason camp at Culver Academy and was aggravated in practice Tuesday.

"You're already at the bottom of the barrel when you come in here. You get hurt, and then you're afraid people think you were just a fluke in high school. They think, `We can play without him anyway.' They think you don't want it bad enough. They think you're just taking your time trying to get over it.

"That's not what I'm about."

No one on the Notre Dame staff had told Spencer about sore shoulders during his recruitment. But after less than five weeks on campus he is recognizing the pressures--some self-imposed--that a big-time football program put on youngsters barely out of high school. He may have been pampered in high school--they held a Jamie Spencer Day for him--but less than two weeks into the season, he is learning the realities about colleges and college football. Getting hurt and learning that he has to play with pain was one of his first lessons.

In an attempt to chronicle these hometown heroes as they embark on a dream, the Tribune will follow Spencer in his freshman year at Notre Dame--his struggle and growth with his coaches, his teachers, himself and the athletic and academic demands of being a big-time college athlete.

There are hundreds of Jamie Spencers on Division I-A college campuses this and every fall. They're hot-shot football players, the best at their position in the nation, their region, state, town and school, hoping to be stars on the next level, or to crack the starting lineup, or at least to make the depth chart.

Many are never heard from again. Instead of making Sunday morning headlines, they are relegated to the scout squad, or they run into academic or off-the-field problems and are expelled from the team or from school. Injuries end many of their careers. Sometimes they transfer; homesick, sometimes, they just quit.

If their dream is the NFL, it is reserved for the tiniest percentage. If it is a college degree, the odds are better, but certainly not assured.

Spencer chose Notre Dame for its academic opportunities as much as its football prowess. He had a 3.4 grade-point average in high school; he counts calculus among his five freshman subjects.

Spencer isn't alone in his challenge. His father, a retired naval master chief, even moved to South Bend and leased a basement apartment for six months so his son could concentrate only on his studies and football.

Spencer's mother and father divorced when he was 8. He says they remain friends and cooperate in assuring his welfare and his success.

The elder Spencer rose to the highest enlisted rank in the Navy. He knows firsthand of pressure. He served primarily on aircraft carriers, in charge of damage control.

"My main point is to lend him moral support, whatever he needs to get him equipped," said Dell Spencer. "There's a lot of pressure for a kid. If you're coming in as `Joe Blow,' you can roll with the punches. But to have expectations and if you do something wrong, let people down, he needs someone he can talk to. I'm trying to keep him relaxed and explain to him that, in time, everything is possible."

Indeed, coach Lou Holtz, his assistants and the entire football program are expecting big things from Spencer.

Notre Dame, the winningest college football program in the nation, is hurting because of spotty recruiting the last few years. But Spencer is supposed to be part of the big, bright future--a fullback with the power and balance of Jerome Bettis, who was money in the bank anytime he carried the ball before turning pro early.

Spencer is on the fast track, especially after the season-opening loss to Northwestern.